Her Demise
by Meggie3367
Summary: Came the night when young Emily was to run away with her secretly betrothed...but things did not quite go as she had anticipated them.


"Goodnight, Emily," said her mother, removing the solitary candle from her bedside. "Sleep well."  
>Emily feigned a tired yawn, and smiled in a drowsy manner at her mother.<br>"Goodnight, Mother. I love you." She felt a pang of guilt as she said 'I love you'. The deed she would perform this night made her love for her parents seem completely fake, but then again, would make her love for her engaged so much more real.  
>"I love you too, darling," her mother replied with a caring smile as she retreated from the room with the candle. When she shut the door, Emily was surrounded instantly with inky blackness. She waited with held breath for a few moments, and as soon as she heard her parents' door click shut, she threw the covers off herself, and fumbled around for the candle and matchbox she had stowed away under her bedclothes. Squinting in the darkness, she pulled a match from its box with her delicate fingers and scratched it on the gritty side of the box. With a hiss, the flame flared into life, and the familiar scent of a burning match that she loved as a child – she would always enjoy watching her grandfather light his pipe, and he would always let her blow out the flame afterward – filled her nostrils. She lit the candle, and held it up in front of her. It illuminated a small arc around her, and she slowly and carefully lowered her feet from her tall iron-framed bed until her toes touched her carpet. Scooting forward until her heels were also touching the floor, Emily stood. She tip-toed, taking care not to bump into anything, over to her wardrobe at the far end of her bed chamber, and opened it up. Inside, hung on the rail, was her mother's crisp, clean, and pristine wedding dress. She felt another shot of guilt as she saw it. She was about to steal something very precious to her mother…with a hard swallow to dismiss the lump that had arisen in her throat, and thinking of her darling, she removed it from the rail, and began to change her clothes. She slipped out of her simple night dress and into her mother's stunning wedding gown, doing up all the fiddly buttons and fastenings. Finally, she put a little make up on, brushed her long, wavy chestnut hair, and tucked the veil headband into her thick curls, where it obediently stayed.<p>

Bong...bong...

The grandfather clock told Emily that it was two in the morning, and she shivered with excitement. She had but one hour until she could be with her love. Moving aside her duvet and bed sheet, she retrieved the warm fleece blanket tucked under them and wrapped it around her shoulders like a shawl. Slowly, and avoiding the floorboards she knew to be creaky, she crept across the wide landing and down the stairs into the main hall. Carefully, she unbolted the front door, wincing at every heavy, resounding clunk the bolt made as she pulled it back, and slipped out into the night. To the forest where she would run away with the man she was devoted to.

Emily pulled the fleece blanket around herself tighter as she stood, shivering for a different reason, in the chilling cold night. The crows of the forest perched on the branches all around her, cocking their heads and watching her through their beady black eyes. She tried to ignore them. After what seemed like an age of waiting, Emily heard footsteps approaching, crunching on the frosted leaves that had fallen to the ground. She gave a little gasp, and looked to where the sound came from.  
>"My Lord Barkis, is that you?" she asked through cold, blue lips.<br>"Yes, my dear," he said, coming into view. Emily recoiled for a fraction of a second upon seeing him. Was it her imagination, or did his eyes contain a dangerous, greedy glint? She decided that there was not. Such an idea was practically blasphemous to her perfect lover. All the same, she could not help feeling uncomfortable.  
>He slipped an arm around her waist and kissed her, dipping her low as he did so. Emily's eyes closed blissfully, all her fears dissolving. Until he broke off the kiss and whispered in her ear.<br>"Goodnight, Emily."  
>Emily's eyes snapped open in alarm as he forced a blade between her breastbone. There was a sickening splintering sound, and Emily fell to the ground as Barkis dropped her from the romantic pose. With a merciless laugh, he pried the jewels and money she had brought for their honeymoon from her weak hands, and swept off into the night, his cloak swirling behind him. Tears spilled down Emily's cheeks as she dragged in her last, painful breath. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her eyelids closed. She was gone.<p> 


End file.
